Jonathan Ralston

Chicago, Illinois

I tend to gravitate towards universal concepts: While Cairns are physical objects, their prevalence around the world suggests they embody many ideas among many cultures. Other paintings skip this representational foundation and exist only as ideas or even just impressions. The viewer is an active participant.

 Using the vocabulary of paint, I think of these paintings almost as poems. In this regard, I am drawn to Japanese concepts: Yūgen (幽玄) - The allure and profundity beyond the apparent, the nuance of an enigmatic realm and the intense feelings elicited by the unspoken or invisible and subtle, Ma (間) - Japanese aesthetic concept that refers to negative space, or the space between things, Mujō - The idea of impermanence.

Again like a poem, Mujo would be the final note. Fleeting and impermanent, the images emerge from the depths, they float in space before disappearing again beneath the surface.

jonathanralston.com, @jonathanralston